Afterlight
by rachealinsanity
Summary: Set in Epilogue of Deathly Hallows. Carson Mason is a teacher at Hogwarts who stopped aging at age sixteen when she brought the four founders back to life.
1. Chapter 1

"Afterlight"

'By: Racheal Insanity'

"Mom!" I turned around when I heard Scorpius call. When he saw me, he immediately dropped his hands from the trolley he was pushing with Draco and ran at me. I opened my arms and he nearly knocked me over with his hug. I had spent the last several weeks at Mason Manor and promised that I'd meet him at the platform when he left for his first year at Hogwarts. "Happy Birthday, Mommy." He whispered the last part, thinking he was too old to call me Mommy; and if I had raised him as a pureblood child should have been raised, he would be.

"Hi Scor, and thank you." I smiled, kissing his head lightly before looking up to meet Draco's eyes.

"Happy Birthday, baby doll." He smirked, wrapping his arms around the two of us for a moment. I rolled my eyes at the nickname he knew I hated, but I sighed in defeat, knowing that he'd never stop. "Did you get everything done?"

"Not everything, but I might opt out early of the feast tonight to finish things before classes tomorrow. I didn't realize there would be so much work to be done though, especially since Se … Albus helped me with the lesson plans."

"What are you teaching again?" Scorpius asked, looking up and dropping his arms, just holding on to my hand lightly.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." I huffed. "If anyone but Minerva had asked, I would have never done it. I've had enough to do with the dark arts to do for a lifetime."

"In public." Draco reminded me. I stuck my tongue out at him. "You know, sometimes I feel like I'm still married to a sixteen year old girl."

"You are still married to a sixteen year old girl." I deadpanned.

"Not so loud, Mommy." Scorpius looked at me like I was crazy for saying that out loud.

"Not so loud, honey." I mocked. "I set up a silencing charm before you even got here. No one can hears us." He frowned for a moment, before smiling again. I didn't understand where he got all his happy energy, since neither Draco or my families were the happy, easy-going type.

"I saw Harry when we entered the platform." Draco changed the subject. "I'll get Scor settled on the train and you go say hi. It's been awhile."

I nodded as I watched them go back to the trolley they had forgotten before walking off. I still didn't have the courage to tell him about the curse, even after nineteen years. I had no choice now but to go say hi to Harry.

It didn't take long to find them, as the platform enhanced the volume of everything just for that reason; at least that was what my father had told me, but even then he liked to joke around.

"Hi Harry." I whispered in Harry's ear, coming up behind him. I felt him tense for a moment before he started laughing.

"Carson!" He turned around and lifted me up into a hug. He spun me around once, before setting me down next to him, facing the others, one arm still loosely wrapped around my waist.

"Carson!" Hermione squealed and Ron laughed when they finally realized who I was. Hermione gave me a hug of her own and Ron gave me a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. I was surprised to find that Harry's arm had stayed on my waist the whole time.

"Harry?" Ginny asked, just slightly confused. I could tell that she recognized me, but couldn't remember why. I had never really spoken to students in my year while at school and never had any classes with her, so I wasn't surprised at her reaction. "Who's your friend?"

"You don't know her?" Harry seemed surprised. I frowned. He still hadn't realized that I hadn't been very popular in school. I was an outsider, even within my own house. "She was in your year." He gave me a quick glance, but thankful did nothing more.

"She wouldn't remember me." I admitted before she could say anything else. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gave me confused looks. "You didn't even realize I was a first year Slytherin when you met me. You thought I was a third year Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw."

Harry huffed. "That's only because you already knew the lessons Ron and I were working on and you were too nice to be in that house."

"Just because I was in Slytherin, doesn't mean I had to be a bitch about it." I glared at him. He still had the same old Gryffindor prejudices about Slytherins.

"Oh, wait!" Ginny exclaimed after listening to our interaction. "Weren't you at our house just before Harry's seventeenth birthday?" I cocked my head to the side before nodding. I really didn't think she would remember that since I had mainly stayed out of the way and with Harry. "I knew I had recognized you, but after seeing you two talk, it reminded me of the way he interacted with someone around that time."

"Speaking of birthday's," Ron grinned. I knew a look of fear had appeared on my face when his grin grew more. He knew more than anyone that I hated my birthday being publicized. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"RON!" I screamed when a few random people gave us strange looks and muttered quick, 'Happy Birthday's. I could just hear Draco laughing farther down the train.

"What?" He held up his hands in defense. "You know I like to tease you about that."

We all glanced up when we heard footsteps running towards us.

"Uncle Ron, what _was_ that?!" a child asked that looked exactly like Harry. There were four others nodding behind him.

"Oh nothing." He grinned. "Just teasing an old friend about her birthday. She just hates it when people know about it." I huffed when I realized that this wouldn't end until we parted ways.

"Anyway." Hermione interrupted. "Happy birthday Carson."

"Yeah, happy birthday." Harry grinned. He looked down at his watch before speaking again. "It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board."

"Don't forget to give Neville our love!" Ginny told one of her sons as she hugged him.

"Mum! I can't give a professor _love_!"

"But you _know_ Neville—" The boy rolled his eyes and I had to laugh. "Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't just walk into Herbology ad give him _love_. . . ."

Ron was already seeing his daughter off when Hermione pulled me aside as Harry stooped down to talk to his other son.

"What are you doing after this? We should go get lunch; catch up." She smiled softly. I couldn't help but give her a sad smile in return. We had owled occasionally over the years, but never anything substantial. I hadn't even known that she had kids.

"I'm not actually sure." I frowned after I had actually processed the question. "Let me call my husband and see if he had anything planned." She nodded, confused, and I walked off to make the call.

"Yes?" Draco answered the phone like I had just called his name and he was curious as to what my question was.

"Hermione just asked me to go out to lunch with them and I was wondering if you had any plans. I'd love to catch up with them." I held my breath as I waited for his answer.

"Of course you can go. You put up with my fr – people I talk to more often than you should. You deserve to have something to yourself."

I almost didn't say anything from the shock of his reply. He wasn't usually so happy about me going off without him. "I love you." Was all I said before I hung up. It was the first time in nineteen years that I had actually meant that, and we both knew it.

I looked up to see the train leaving. I waved as Scorpius' cabin went by and he gave a small smile in return. I stared after the train long after it had left and when I turned back to the group, I realized that Harry had been too.

"Are you coming?" Hermione asked when Harry and I walked back over to them.

"Coming where?" Ron and Ginny asked at once.

"Oh, to lunch!" Hermione said, just realizing that she hadn't told them of her plans. "I thought that since it was her birthday and we hadn't seen each other in years, we should go out." She frowned for a moment before looking at me. "You're married?"

I gave her a confused look before I realized that I had told her I had to call my _husband_, not just a friend. I frowned myself then. I had forgotten how careless I always was around them. I'd have to be more careful.

"Oh yes." I finally replied. "It was an arranged marriage." I paused, knowing that wasn't right. "Or well, an arranged marriage to get out of an arranged marriage. Or. Something like that."

"I never would have taken you for someone that would agree to that." Harry told me, giving me a concerned look.

"Well, we had been friends and if I didn't agree to marry him, he would have ended up in a marriage where he didn't even speak to his wife and were only really together so he could have an heir."

"Do we know him?" Ron asked in a tone that sounded like a protective older brother.

"No. You don't. So there's no point in telling you who it is." I half-lied. They really didn't know him, not anymore, and honestly, they never really did.

Harry frowned at me, but knew that I didn't want to talk about it anymore. "So where are we going to eat?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Afterlight"

'Chapter Two'

I coughed as I stepped out of the fireplace and into Minerva's office. I hated using the Floo-network, but there was no other way to quickly get into Hogwarts. I had lost track of time while catching up with Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione and was running late to the feast. I knew the returning students would already be filing into the Great Hall.

I brushed some black powder off my clothes and raced out of the room, taking the moving staircase two steps at a time. I almost groaned in frustration at how slow the statue at the foot of the stairs was moving. When the statue finally moved out of the way, I almost ran straight for Gryffindor Tower to change into my robes, but instead walked towards the Great Hall knowing that I would never have enough time to get there and back in time. I would just have to attend the feast in my muggle clothes.

"Carson!" I turned around when I heard a voice call my name. I broke into a grin when I saw Albus Prince.

"You're late." He scolded, when he finally reached talking distance. "Minvera sent me looking for you twenty minutes ago. If I had known you hadn't been here yet, I would have gone to get you hours ago. You'll already have to go to the feast as is and if we don't hurry we'll miss the sorting ceremony." I rolled my eyes when he made it sound like this was all a great inconvenience for him.

He motioned for me to follow him and all the way to the Great Hall, I felt like I was back in school and being led to detention for doing something wrong. I sighed and knew that I would probably have to wait until the first week of classes was over until I had any real time to talk to him.

The Great Hall got deathly quiet as we walked in. I almost scoffed when they all started whispering about why I was there. It probably was quite a sight though: some girl who looked like a teenager and was wearing soot covered _muggle_ clothing, walking in with Professor Prince. If it wasn't for the fact that no one recognized me, they probably would have thought I was a student.

I easily ignored them all and followed Albus to the High Table. I gave a short nod and a smile to Minerva as we passed her, but didn't respond to the other teachers. I remembered some from my days at Hogwarts, but others were new.

"Carson! What are you doing here?" I looked up when I heard a familiar voice. Neveille stood up from his seat and gave me a hug. There were two empty seats next to him and I ended up sitting between the two. "So what are you doing here?" he asked again after we took our seats.

"I'm the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." I shrugged. I looked over to him with a smile when he didn't respond. "Shocked?"

"Well, of course." He nodded. "You never seemed that into that class or at all interested in becoming a teacher."

"That's true, but Minerva owled me over the summer and asked me to come teach as a favor. It shouldn't be that hard and I always have help."

"Like who?" he muttered quietly when Albus got up and left through a side door.

"Albus said he'd help me if I needed it and I was told that Harry comes in from time to time to give lectures."

It looked like Neveille was going to say something else when the doors to the Great Hall opened up. Albus walked in leading the first years.

He brought out a stool and the Sorting Hat. Once it was set down, it started its speech just like all the years before. It took about ten minutes before Albus was able to call the students up to be sorted.

I wasn't surprised when Albus and Rose were sorted into Gryffindor, but I think everyone was when Scorpius wasn't immediately placed into Slytherin.

"No." I heard Scorpuis quietly mutter, shaking his head. You could almost see everyone straining to hear what the Sorting Hat was saying to him.

"That is Malfoy's son, isn't it? Why isn't he sorted into Slytherin already?" I heard someone ask.

"Slytherin." The Sorting Hat called, but not as confidently as it should have. The Slytherin house cheered and Scorpuis nervously made his way over to the table. I watched as three of the Slytherin prefects introduced themselves as he sat down.

I tried to pay attention to the rest of the sorting, but it soon became impossible to not have my thoughts wonder back to Scorpius. He should have been sorted into Slytherin immediately, but he wasn't and it seemed that the Sorting Hat had been trying to convince him to go to another hat.

When the final student was sorted, Minerva stood up while Albus took his seat. Everyone was quiet as she walked to the podium.

"Welcome, everyone, to another year here at Hogwarts. I would like to remind everyone to keep out of the Forbidden Forest unless supervised by Hagrid." She paused, as if thinking about something, before continuing. "We also have two new professors this year. Alistair Bane will be teaching Astronomy and as a favor to me, Carson Mason will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. She will also be the new Head of House for Gryffindor." A teacher on the other end of the table stood up when his name was called and gave a small nod before sitting back down. I slowly stood up when my name was called. I smiled and nodded while the Gryffindors cheered, and then quickly sat back down.

Minerva gave a rather short speech before the feast began. I moved my food around my plate for a bit before I finally decided that I should just go get things ready for tomorrow. Albus and Nevielle looked up when I stood up, but neither said anything and let me go. I slipped out a side down and made my way towards the Gryffindor tower. I was almost at my room when I heard a voice call my name.

"Scorpius." I hissed, casting a quick silencing charm. "What are you doing here?" I frowned when he gave me a tight hug and wouldn't let go. "What's wrong?"

"Dad would be mad if I were in Gryffindor, wouldn't he?" he asked, leaning back a bit to look up at me. He loosened his grip a bit and I knelt down to look up at him.

"Is that where the Sorting Hat wanted to put you?" I asked, with a faint smile on my face. "Is that why your sorting took so long?" he nodded. I knew he was only worried what his father would think.

"Dad wouldn't be mad." I promised. "He would be happy. He would want _you_ to be happy." I sat down on the ground and dragged him down into my lap. I cast a shielding charm so that anyone who passed by would just see an empty hallway.

"But you were both Slytherin's. His whole family was in Slytherin." I hugged Scorpuis tight. I couldn't stand seeing him so miserable.

"Yes, that's true. Even my whole family was in Slytherin, but that doesn't mean anything." I insisted. "Did I ever tell you I was supposed to be in Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat just saw my blood and put me into Slytherin instead?" Scorpuis looked at me with wide eyes and shook his head no. "My father died because of the decision, and every time I've seen the Sorting Hat since, it tells me that it should have seen past blood and put me in Gryffindor. It didn't want to make the same mistake twice, but you _choose_ Slytherin. There was nothing it could have done this time except to put you into a house you didn't want to be in. I've changed Draco since the war. He isn't truly a Slytherin anymore. You probably should have been sorted into Ravenclaw, or even Gryffindor for that matter."

"You promise?" Scorpius whimpered, pulling me into another hug.

"I promise." I smiled. We sat there for a few minutes before I could hear students coming. We must have been there longer than I had thought. "Come on, you should go find your house. The Gryffindor students will wonder why you're here."

He nodded and we stood up. I dropped the charms I had up and cast a disillusionment charm on the two of us. I put my hand on his shoulder and led him past the students and towards the dungeons. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at some of the comments I heard the Gryffindor students made when they thought no one was listening.

"Did you see how Professor Mason left the Great Hall so quickly?" "Did you see what she was _dressed_ in? It looked like she had just rolled in a pile of soot." "Or what about that Malfoy kid? He couldn't get out of there fast enough. He looked like he was about to _cry_!"

I had to hold back a growl at the last comment I heard before we left the corridor. I would have to have a talk to my house about insulting professors, especially their Head of House, and students in other houses. They never knew who could be listening.

XXX

"Albus!" I hissed when we reached the dungeons. He paused for a moment, waiting for his house to turn the corner, before turning around.

"I'm hoping you have Scorpuis with you Carson. I haven't seen him since he left the Great Hall." Albus tried not to smile knowing perfectly well that my son would be with me.

"Of course." I sighed as I dropped the charm. "Where else would he go when he could get lost on the staircase?" I knew Scorpuis would have protested expect for the fact that it was true. He didn't know his way around Hogwarts yet and got confused just coming from the Gryffindor tower to the dungeons.

"I'll take him from here. You should go talk to your house. You haven't made the best impression on them yet." Albus said, turning around when Scorpuis reached his side. I watched them until they turned the corner before I raced back to the Gryffindor tower. I knew he was right about my first impression and I would have to changed first before I faced my house again.

XXX

"Pig Snout" I whispered the password to the Fat Lady, hugging my robes around me. I hated talking to crowds. It was never my expertise.

"Professor!" I heard one of the older students gasp as I entered the room. Apparently after my hasty exit at dinner, they didn't expect to see me until class tomorrow.

"Good evening students." I nodded. I guessed that about half of every year was in the common room. I didn't particularly care that not everyone was there. It actually made things easier on me. "I just wanted to formally introduce myself before classes started."

"Do you mind if I ask you some, Professor?" a third year asked timidly. I nodded and she continued. "Why were you covered in soot during the feast?"

"Oh that?" I laughed, knowing perfectly well that it would come up. "I had been running later and had to come using the Floo-network. I've always hated doing that. I somehow manage to get the powder all over myself."

Quite a few of the students laughed at that and I knew their first impression of me was gone. I looked up when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs from the boy's dormitories.

"Professor Mason!" Albus grinned when he saw me. He had already taken a liking to me while we were at the platform when he overheard that I had been in Slytherin but acted nothing like it. James, however, took an immediate dislike when he saw his father's arm around my waist, and he showed it by glaring at me as the two made their way to sit on one of the half-full couches.

"Hi Al. Did you get everything settled?" I asked, leaning back against the wall closest to the entrance. He nodded happily before falling into a conversation with his brother.

"Do you know all our names?" someone asked from across the room. I had surprised them when I knew Albus' name.

"Oh no." I shook my head. "I'll have to learn them all as I go. I met Albus and James at the platform when I was catching up with their family."

"Harry Potter! You went to school with Harry Potter?!" I winced at how excited the common room got then. I could see Albus and James do the same. It looked as if they had already gotten lots of questions about their famous father, but it was one thing to be a child of Harry Potter and another to know him while he was growing up and actually fighting the war.

"Yes. I was a year behind Harry." I told them. "But I've heard that he has come in to give lectures for Defense from time to time." A few students slowly nodded, not seeing where I was going with that. "Then you can ask him any questions you have about him. It was his life and he deserves to be the one to tell about it. We all have our secrets from that time and I don't know what he would want shared."

"Were you in the war?" another student asked. I tried not to glare, but I was really getting tired of all the questions.

"Do you treat all your professors like this?" I demanded, not wanting to talk about the war. Most of the students either jumped or looked away at my tone.

"They'd give us detention." James piped up, having ended his conversation with Albus. "They think that because you're our Head of House, that you won't." I looked around the common room, ignoring James' attitude, and everyone I looked at nodded guiltily.

"Well you thought wrong." I told them. "I will not tolerate rude behavior _especially_ from my own house."

"Sorry Professor Mason." The room chorused in apology.

I nodded and turned to leave. "Oh, and just remember to keep some comments to yourself. You never know who could be listening. Thirty points from Gryffindor." I smirked as I left the room. That should keep them on edge.


End file.
